Michael Dickson was awarded the Ray Guy Award last year as the nation’s top punter, averaging 47.4 yards per attempt for Texas. The Seattle Seahawks understand that this does not tell the whole story. They understand that teams must dig deep in the name of due diligence. Sure, you want a punter to be good at punting, but if they’re no good at staring contests, what’s the point?

“I mean I had to do a staring contest and I had to see how long I could stare without blinking,’’ Dickson said. “I had a couple of attempts. I tried a few techniques, looking away from the light, trying to block any sort of wind coming into the eyes. That was a weird process.”

…

“The first time I did terrible,’’ Dickson said. “I only lasted for 14 seconds, but my third time I had figured out a technique to look around the room just to get your eyes a little watery, I guess.”

Hey, 14 seconds isn’t bad. In fact, that happens to a lot of guys.

If you had told me yesterday that a head coach was sending his squad out to do weird alpha stuff like this, Pete Carroll would have been at the bottom of the list. Feels more like a Mike Zimmer thing.